Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Natasha Trethewey's poem "What is Evidence" raises profound questions about the nature of evidence, memory, and violence. The poem directly confronts the reader with the painful and often overlooked aspects of suffering and abuse, raising ethical questions about what counts as tangible evidence of such pain. Employing stark and vivid imagery, Trethewey crafts a narrative that revolves around a woman's body as the ultimate bearer of her life's struggles.

The poem opens with a dismissive approach to conventional forms of evidence, such as "fleeting bruises" and a "dark patch like the imprint of a scope." These elements are intangible and transient, easily hidden by makeup or explained away. The voice she steadies or the "pot of bones on the stove" also fall into this category-temporal and easily overlooked forms of evidence that can be ignored or dismissed by those who do not wish to see. The notion of "looking for a way out" introduces the idea that the subject of the poem is in a situation she wants to escape but can't find the means to do so successfully. The use of the word "scope" could signify hope or vision but is counteracted by the bruise, suggesting that even when looking for a way out, she is met with more hurt and despair.

In contrast to the ephemeral nature of these signs, Trethewey introduces "official document" with its "seal and smeared signature," highlighting the bureaucratic and often inadequate ways society uses to recognize or validate individual suffering. Similarly, the "tiny marker with its dates" abstracts the individual to a mere historical note, something to be easily skimmed over or forgotten. These formal tokens of identity and existence, instead of serving as concrete evidence, seem to contribute to her erasure, as they are "fading already, the edges wearing."

The final lines of the poem shift dramatically, focusing on the "landscape of her body-splintered clavicle, pierced temporal." These are not fleeting signs but indelible imprints. They are haunting precisely because they are enduring-the irrevocable marks on her body, "her thin bones settling a bit each day." Trethewey suggests that this corporeal evidence, though silent, is more telling than any document, gravestone, or transient bruise could ever be. It is the body that holds the most reliable record of a person's life, especially when that life has been riddled with violence and pain.

Through keen observations and nuanced emotional understanding, Trethewey's "What is Evidence" underscores the failings of conventional markers of evidence in capturing the full scale of human suffering. By focusing on the body as a vessel that holds the imprints of life's experiences, the poem delivers a searing critique of societal notions of evidence and forces the reader to confront the complexities of pain that are often ignored, dismissed, or inadequately understood.

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